‘His legacy is cringe’: how Charlie Kirk became a punchline among the young - even his supporters
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>Crude memes of the Maga luminary are exploding online – less than a year after conservatives were suppressing any slander against him</p><p>Ten months since his assassination, Charlie Kirk’s name and likeness are still proliferating online. Just not the way the far-right activist would have wanted.</p><p>Audio of the gunshot that killed him has <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/why-tiktokers-using-audio-charlie-202303558.html">become</a> a TikTok meme, as have ironic reposts of the apparent AI-slop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfqhpxl9P40">song</a> We Are Charlie Kirk, which was originally created as a posthumous tribute. He was the butt of a crude <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/1t9ttbn/pete_davidson_crossed_the_line_at_the_kevin_hart/">joke</a> during the Netflix roast of Hollywood star Kevin Hart in May. The next month, a viral <a href="https://x.com/prmade313raised/status/2067940785161470310?s=20">tweet</a> encouraged people to take “a shot” in his honor on Juneteenth. And a trend known as “Kirkification” has emerged, in which internet pranksters superimpose his face on to unlikely images, such as the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa_Kirkification.jpg">Mona Lisa</a>, a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/kirkified/comments/1q1zn1i/no_nut_2026_already_failed/#lightbox">woman</a> in a bikini, or <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/kirkified/comments/1r1gtdo/chawly_kurk/#lightbox">Jeffrey Epstein</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/charlie-kirk-meme-young-supporters">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
Crude memes of the Maga luminary are exploding online – less than a year after conservatives were suppressing any slander against himTen months since his assassination, Charlie Kirk’s name and likeness are still proliferating online. Just not the way the far-right activist would have wanted.Audio of the gunshot that killed him has become a TikTok meme, as have ironic reposts of the apparent AI-slop song We Are Charlie Kirk, which was originally created as a posthumous tribute. He was the butt of a crude joke during the Netflix roast of Hollywood star Kevin Hart in May. The next month, a viral tweet encouraged people to take “a shot” in his honor on Juneteenth. And a trend known as “Kirkification” has emerged, in which internet pranksters superimpose his face on to unlikely images, such as the Mona Lisa, a woman in a bikini, or Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...
Curation & Context
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